Yesterday, my goal was to whip my cell biology syllabus into shape, and then to reorganize my first lecture. I did not get either done, because I instead was slammed with some wicked gut disruption that struck suddenly. I had to flee home, abandoning my laptop, with my syllabus open and one paragraph in the midst of some brutal butchery. This morning I know exactly what I will find when I walk into my office: an ugly section of my syllabus with words hacked up and sentences dangling unfinished. I hope I can wrap it up quickly.
It is also possible that when I see that screen, my sympathetic nervous system will explode in revulsion. Maybe it’s not a stomach bug at all, but an esthetic rebellion. I really, really hate writing my syllabus.
The problem is that it’s been growing for decades. It’s like a cancer fueled by administrative toxins fed into it from above. Every year we get told that we have to add a section addressing X and Y and Z and on beyond zebra, that we must tell the students explicitly what is in the course, and what grading expectations we have, and who to go see if you have a headache, and the address of the registrar, and endless useful stuff. I don’t disagree that much of it is useful, but am annoyed that we have to pack every course syllabus with a full guide to life as a student. When we hand them a volume so detailed that the essential specifics of the course are buried in redundant stuff that they get in every class, it reduces the cogency of what I’m telling them.
This year, we were informed that we must include a section on the use of AI. The administration helpfully provided a whole grand template of verbiage to use for this part of the syllabus, and as usual, it’s repetitive and excessively wordy. I was trying to adapt the multiple paragraphs of the template into the required section of my syllabus, and my brain was twisting itself into peevish knots, when my gut decided to emulate my cortex.
I’m going to sit down this morning, select a bunch of useless text, hit delete, and write “DON’T USE AI.” Simple. My digestive system will thank me.
I understand why this boilerplate information may be necessary. But I don’t get why it has to be written into every syllabus. Why can’t it be a link?
Been eating jalapenos?
Well, it was probably generated (not written, because writing implies thought) using AI. Or lawyers. Or a combination of lawyers and AI.
Put in all the extraneous stuff as links.
Add some “extra” links that go to places that mock university admins/lawyers/AI.
No one reads syllabii anyway. It is known.
Can’t you use AI to write this stuff for you?
My syllabus has to be submitted to the administration. They will read it and note any deviations, and I will get an email telling me about all my deficiencies.
They would probably give me a bonus if I had an AI write it for me.
Weird. The syllabi I got during my most recent time in school all had a page of administration-provided boilerplate about plagiarism, accommodations, etc. tacked on the back. It’s probably now been updated to include something about AI use. Some instructors add their own more specific policies up front, but it seems stupid to require them to basically re-word a generic university policy.
PZ, you’ve been a diligent, capable teacher for decades. This type of corp admin. micromanagement serves NO purpose.
As soon as you can, take the money and run!
Education in this nation is becoming merely indoctrination dictated by imbeciles:
Censorship in LA School District Could Become National Norm, Educators Warn
Educators in the country’s second-largest school district are facing repression in the wake of a new California law.
https://truthout.org/articles/censorship-in-la-school-district-could-become-national-norm-educators-warn/
Your gut disruption might just be your body rebelling at the insanity you are saddled with! You need some fugitall pills!
There is no money.
PZ, do you mean to tell us that when you retire you will not get any pension from all those years of work?
PZ, I hope your ‘gut wrenching’ episode is now over, today 14 august. Please confirm.
Format the syllabus as two separate documents. One that only contains class-relevant information and one that contains information pertaining to all students at the university.